Seattle’s all-ages concert guide You don’t need fake ID to have fun.

The new Murs album is not that great. It sounds a lot like a sequel to 2003s “3:16,” but without much of the emotional depth that he displayed on his first album with famed indie producer 9th Wonder. The beats are still excellent (especially “Murray’s Law” which has the best beat this side of Danger Mouse) and Murs is still a very competent MC (like the line “we shocked the world last year, but nobody heard it” referring to his album “Felt 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet” with fellow indie star Slug), unfortunately that’s all he is on the new album “Murray’s Revenge.” Fortunately this is not an album review, it’s a live review and Murs brought everything live that he didn’t bring to his album.

Murs came on-stage promptly at 11 opening with the first track from “Murray’s Revenge,”...

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Here’s some stuff:

Tristan and Justine went to visit University Prep. We talked/rambled about music journalism, hung out, and then visited Jimi Hendrix’s grave. It was pretty much awesome, and everyone there is awesome too. Here’s the nice note they sent us:

We are finalizing the bands for our show June 2nd, and while we can’t tell you just yet, we have a good mix, and we’ll start posting/spamming/letting everyone know by the end of next week. It’s going to be pretty much fabulous, so mark your calendar!

Also, congratulations to Tristan, who just got an internship at Pattern 25 records! Isn’t he fabulous?

There are still shows going on at the House, so keep pestering the City Council to keep it around if you live near Everett!

Mercurial Sound has also been listed...

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I live on a co-ed floor in the UW dorms, and when my girlfriends and I feel the need for a night away from the boys, we find ourselves an emty room, grab ice cream and chocolate, start gossiping, and put on our favorite wild girl-rock music: usually the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. We all felt a bit betrayed at the release of “Gold Lion” a poppy tune that I would have loved… had it been released by Tegan and Sara. What happened to our idolized Karen O?! Last night, out of loyalty and love for the original Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP and “Fever to Tell,” I trekked to the Paramount with some of the girls (okay, we bought some boys too) - and had my love restored for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The first two acts were dissapointing. Imaad Wasif was far too mellow to open to a crowd waiting for the shrieks of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Blood...

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To all Eisley fans out there who have not had the chance to catch a live show, do it. I personally have been harboring doubts about the quality of Chauntelle and Sherri’s voices live but those were pushed immediately from my mind when their first duet started. Eisley is amazingly tight live, well practiced, and cheerful. They just had too many opening bands.

I completely missed the first band, Brighten, but was informed that one of the girls from Eisley had to come on and sing for them to keep the crowd from booing them off the stage. The second act, Fair, started strong, surprising me with a pretty good opener that garnered wild applause from the crowd. The next song they played might as well have been the first song all over again. And the next and the next and the next…you get the point. I quickly lost interest as their straightforward, never changing, pounding quarter notes, became white noise. I really don’t think I could write such similar songs if I...

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I’m going to admit up front that I listened to the bands that were to play with Heroes Amongst Thieves before going to this show and was not thrilled by any of them. That said, opening band Resonance was quite good live, playing some straight forward rock that got creative at times. However, as with their recordings, the lead vocals were too high pitched and after a few songs, the whiny everyman tone that led the band was grating on me. The lyrics were not bad nor was the music, but I wish that the backup singer could have played a larger role because his parts of the harmonies and his rough backup singing fit the music much better and was more enjoyable. He did, however, sing the last song, handing his guitar over to the vocalist who up until then had been on rhythm guitar rather...

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The Drive-By Truckers are the voice of a new America. They are not just the voice of the new south as has been supposed frequently by any publication that happens to cover them. They are the voice of a new America that has risen out of the roots of post 9/11 patriotism. They exist in an upstart world that tries to show the real truth behind closed doors in southern cities, and dont actively work to play up long-standing stereotypes.

To put things simply: the Drive-By Truckers are the My Name is Earl of rock bands. While the blindly patriotic and moral-driven have According to Jim, and the snarky youth have The Daily Show, the real people who live normal lives, but still spend time thinking just have Earl.

Many may argue that the DBT play up southern stereotypes in the same manner as Blue Collar Comedy, but this is egregiously untrue. The Blue Collar folks have been wise enough to cash-in on a south (and the rest of...

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It takes a little wading through Yo La Tengo waters to fully understand the band El Jezel. If you’re not careful you may get caught up in a Sonic Youth backwash while doing so. It will be worth your effort, though, when you discover that El Jezel don’t really sound like these bands at all. Their real musical counterpart is another cooler than you east-coast band discovering attention called The Comas.

El Jezel is a three-piece from New York consisting of lead singer/guitarist George Flanagan, singer/bassist Jessica Isaacson and drummer Dan Killoren. They have been gaining attention residing in a New York which exists outside of the trend-driven following in recent years of dance-punk, The Strokes, and Interpol. Instead their New York is one with interesting bands bringing something new musically while still exploring their roots.

The similarities to The Comas are not immediately striking when listening to...

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The first group of Bumbershoot bands have been announced. The highlights are decidedly hip-hop oriented. The list looks like this so far:

Kanye West • AFI • A Tribe Called Quest • Yellowcard • Atmosphere • Hawthorne Heights • Feist • Shooter Jennings • Mates of State • Of Montreal • Matt Costa • The Blood Brothers • Bettye Lavette • the subdudes • Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk • Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings • Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey • Yerba Buena • The English Beat • Gossip • 3 Inches of Blood • Deerhoof • Laura Veirs • Nouvelle Vague • Breakestra • Jamie Lidell • Vashti Bunyan • Dengue Fever • Metric

Interesting initial groups include Kanye West who is one of the largest rappers alive today, and also played at Sasquatch last year. Hip-Hop pioneers A Tribe Called Quest featuring Q-Tip, who some may...

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To celebrate thier record release Brier Rose hosted this 4 band show.Wimble Weather played their first show ever on this night. Although it was their first no one would have known. They played like old pros. The lyrics and music were solid and the vocals were polished. It proved to be a good tight performance from Wimble Weather.

The Stream Line took the stage second. The lead singer proved to be skilled at his acoustic guitar. A good performance.

Put your mathrock shoes on for Post Harbor. They produced blanketing, magestic and sometimes ominous layers of sounds. Post Harbor’s vocals were minimal but this is alright because of the strength of the songs. Good stage presence and performance is sometimes hard to pull off for bands but the members of Post Harbor were fully involved in the music they played. This made for an engaging show. Read...

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I love “Bayonets”. I love it now and I loved it a month ago when the New Fangs first sent it to me for review. Now, in this past month of extreme slackdom, of which “Bayonets” was a strong and consistent soundtrack, I was expecting something big. I thought that they’d be fucking huge by now, the talk of the town. Yet a month has passed and only one significant thing has happened: The New Fangs have become the most underrated band in Seattle.

Blending the manic surf-punk of the Dead Kennedys with the shit-hot coolness of the Murder City Devils, the New Fangs have crafted a sound that is dark, menacing and utterly hip. This is the type of music that Nick Cave would make if he were a seventeen year old skateboarder with a jones for George Romero and old Gidget flicks. I know that that’s a stretch. Just stick with me.

“Bayonets” is packed with apocalyptic tension, guitars wailing like neighborhood watch sirens, drums that...

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